Hands and Hearts at Work: Duquesne Students to Head to Homewood

November 2, 2015

Dr. Norman Conti, associate professor, is known across the Duquesne University campus and by other sociology scholars for creating spaces where academic research meets the real world.

Part of the Inside-Out program, which teaches traditional college students alongside incarcerated ones, Conti extended the idea to develop a think tank of incarcerated men to improve police training. His latest initiative is encouraging students in his Introduction to Criminal Justice class and those studying Basic Philosophical Questions in Duquesne's Justica academic learning community to help an inspirational neighborhood home for art take shape in Pittsburgh's low-income Homewood community.

The students will work with artist Vanessa German to open her new, expanded Love Front Porch, a safe space where community members-especially children-gather to express themselves in artwork creations.

German's community initiative, heralded locally and nationally, including by O, The Oprah Magazine, has become a community touchpoint.

Duquesne University

Founded in 1878, Duquesne is consistently ranked among the nation's top Catholic universities for its award-winning faculty and tradition of academic excellence. Duquesne, a campus of nearly 10,000 graduate and undergraduate students, has been nationally recognized for its academic programs, community service and commitment to sustainability. Follow Duquesne University on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.www.duq.edu